Sunday, January 15, 2017

Perception by Lee Strauss - #review


Seventeen year old Zoe Vanderveen is a GAP—a genetically altered person. She lives in the security of a walled city on prime water-front property along-side other equally beautiful people with extended life spans.

Her brother Liam is missing.


Noah Brody is a natural who lives on the outside. He leads protests against the GAPs and detests the widening chasm they’ve created between those who have and those who don’t. He doesn’t like girls like Zoe and he has good reason not to like her specifically.

Zoe’s carefree life takes a traumatic turn. She’s in trouble and it turns out that Noah, the last guy on earth she should trust, is the only one who can help her.

PERCEPTION is a (SF/mystery/romance) Young Adult novel that takes place in the not-too-distant future in a world changed by climate extremes, natural disasters and impending wars, and where scientific breakthroughs cause class divisions—both financially and philosophically. It explores the clash between faith and science and how differences can separate us as enemies or ally us together. And in some cases, even in the midst of betrayal and personal crisis, there’s room to fall in love.


~~~oOo~~~

MY REVIEW

"The more things change, the more they stay the same"  It was true back in 1849, when Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote it; it is true today; and it apparently is true in a fictional future.  There are the 'haves' and the 'have nots', who rarely cross paths.  And the 'haves' will fight work to maintain that status quo.

In Perception, by Lee Strauss, the GAP process was discovered/invented by Zoe's grandfather, and (as she found out during the course of the book for the first time) another scientist.  Ole Papaw was pro-genetic manipulation and is now ultra-rich, a Senator, and candidate for President.  The other scientist did not think the discovery should be implemented, and died in obscurity.  Lo and behold, the 2nd man's daughter and grandson work for Zoe's family in a domestic capacity.

You see, the GAP process costs about 3/4 of a million dollars ... per person.  Not everyone can afford it.  GAPs live in clean, walled cities, have extended life spans, and are rarely sick.  Oh, and they seem to be overwhelmingly blond/e as well.  'Naturals', or everyone else ... well, they get to take their chances.  Sounds awfully 1%-ish to me...with maybe a little master race thrown in for good measure.

Ms. Strauss has written an extremely readable tale of the future.  I could relate to Zoe, even though I'm probably old enough to be her grandmother.  And I was as shocked as Zoe was at at least one of the hairpin turns during the course of the story.

If the other installments in this trilogy and Ms. Strauss' other works are as good, it looks like I'll be reading for a long, long time!

~~~oOo~~~

MEET THE AUTHOR



Lee Strauss is the international bestselling author of A Nursery Rhyme Suspense Series (Mystery/Thriller), The Perception Series (young adult dystopian), and young adult historical fiction with over 775,000 books read.

She also writes younger YA fantasy as Elle Strauss and inspirational romance as Hope Franke.

1 comment:

  1. This sounds really good. I hadn't heard of it! Guess I couldn't afford to be a GAP, though. :-)

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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